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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24727120">Torch To the Throne, Or: The Traitor Prince Radicalizes in More Ways than One.</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/WormfansOnly/pseuds/WormfansOnly'>WormfansOnly</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Avatar: The Last Airbender</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Bisexual Sokka (Avatar), Communism, F/F, F/M, Gay Zuko (Avatar), Humor, M/M, Socialism, Sokka is a nut for ideas/theories, Toph says ACAB, Zuko guides Toph (questionably) in her very own gay crisis, Zuko is a ball of social anxiety, a teeeeeny bit of word building, air nomad politics, bottom up reconstruction of Fire Nation government, deconstruction of government, dumbassery, fuck the monarchy!, lesbian Toph, suki is very chill, water tribe politics, zuko has BOTH a sexuality and sociopolitical crisis</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 02:13:58</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>8,373</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24727120</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/WormfansOnly/pseuds/WormfansOnly</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The room was lined with his father’s advisors, ministers, generals-all clambering to get in the good graces of their new Fire Lord.<br/>These people had never worked a hard day in their life. None of the hands he shook felt calloused to the handles of tools, roughened by hours laboring in kitchens or factories or fields. None of these fools knew the desperation of living in the lower ring of Ba Sing Se or how it felt to go without food for days on the road.<br/>Gods, how could he let these shams, these clowns determine the fate of normal folks when they knew nothing but cushioned lives? Zuko had been mulling the thought over too long, but it finally crystallized, sharp and sure in his mind. Sokka had said it, one night when they lay on Ember island’s black sands, his eyes bright with possibility and fixed on the future.</p><p>He was going to let his people run his Nation.</p><p>(It turns out Zuko is gay for Socialism AND Sokka)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Sokka/Suki (Avatar), Sokka/Zuko (Avatar), Toph Beifong/Suki (onesided)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>61</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Torch To the Throne, Or: The Traitor Prince Radicalizes in More Ways than One.</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Lol. I don’t know anything about political theory beyond like... the most basic shit. So forgive me if I sound like a 7th grader who’s just read Animal Farm and is like: “wait this is capitalist propaganda. Communism might not actually suck.”<br/>Also for those of you worried that is is gonna be like... Zuko reads The Communist Manifesto, don’t worry. I stand by my earlier statement that I don’t know shit and I definitely haven’t read Marx and this ended up being a lot more of “Zuko has a lot of stress because he finds out he’s really into Sokka.” And at one point during writing this I remembered this was also about destroying the monarchy and ending the oppression of the proletariat.<br/>So. If you wanted one more than the other I dunno what to tell you.<br/>I think this is gonna be two parts and hopefully there will be an update soon.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Zuko remembers a quiet moment of travel, on their return from visiting the old masters, when Aang mentioned a radical idea born from his now dead culture. The Sun warriors had prompted it, as Zuko asked aloud how Aang thought their society was structured. The avatar had rubbed his bare head at this.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“I dunno... maybe they elect their chief?”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">It was a testament to Zuko’s upbringing that his brain would’ve never conjured this option. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Huh.” Was the only eloquence he could manage. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“The air temples kinda worked like that. Once you were old enough you could nominate an elder to represent a monastery-I wasn’t old enough to participate but my mentor, Monk Gyatso was one of the Southern temple’s elders! We had...” he counted on his fingers, lips forming names of dead men, “five elders, but some temples had more because they had more people.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Was there a central leader leader between all of the temples?” Zuko had been beyond interested. Something in his mind was latching onto this, digesting it hungrily.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“No, there wasn’t anyone who had more say than the elders, but each temple did have a Head Monk. The elders would meet twice a year at each equinox for a big council! And during the fall equinox we’d have a big festival where all of the temples gathered!” And after that Aang was off discussing radical social structures and onto describing Air Nomad cuisine-the intricacies of fluffy tarts and the profound sweetness of maple sugar. Zuko listened as well as he could with a mind full of concepts that, before Aang’s story, he would’ve never considered.</span>
</p>
<hr/><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">But that’s not quite true.</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The spring rains had flushed the lower streets of Ba Sing Se with rivers of mud and grime that pooled in miserable brown puddles at every gutter, corner, and intersection. It made walking on the ground impossible unless you could bend terra firma to rise from the veritable swamp all the roads had become. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Zuko, then a server at “Pao’s Family Tea House” had taken to commuting by roof, and was in a foul mood daily as the rainy season and general state of his life would dictate. His clothes smelled constantly of mildew and the cold wet seeped into his bones in a way only breath of fire could dispel. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">He served tea to another faceless peasant. Gods he hated Ba Sing Se.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">It was days like this one when Zuko contemplated (with great spite) just how trapped he was. It made work drag inexplicably.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">One of his customers had left a pamphlet beneath the tip. The stack of coins resting on the folded paper was surprisingly tall considering the woman’s rough workwear. Perhaps she had heard Pao chewing him out in the back room, demanding he smile more and offer “the hospitality the customers pay for”. Zuko didn’t plan on doing any of that and was muttering murderously that he didn’t “get paid enough for this shit.” when he came to take the woman’s order.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Having absolutely nothing better to do, Zuko pocketed the pamphlet and spared a glance at it when he had a break in clientele.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">It was printed in bright red on what appeared to be appropriated municipal posters. The ink on the front varied in potency, but the darkest text read: “WORKERS UNITE” and below, in smaller font: “Totalitarian regimes of the world fear the power of the laborer, for we are the foundation of all civilization.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The inside went on to elaborate on the injustices of the earth kingdom’s ruling class and the decadent lives they lead at the expense of the mistreated workers. </span>
  <em>
    <span class="s2">Greed and corruption seek to blind us of our own capabilities-our own power,</span>
    <span class="s1"> the pamphlet explained</span>
    <span class="s2">, and it is only through unity that this illusion is broken.</span>
  </em>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">It was a strange and compelling bit of literature. Zuko wondered what he would’ve done with something like it if he were in his father’s position. He knew what The Firelord would do, how he would hunt down dissenters and silence them, but Zuko’s hands were not strangers to laboring. Was it treasonous to read those words and feel some truth to them? </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">After weeks in the lower ring, the exiled prince would be a fool to not recognize why the poor despised the rich and why the rich were often so despicable. His blood boiled at the cost of rent (had Zuko even known what rent was before this?) and the price of food, all of such low quality it was a marvel anyone wanted to pay for it. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Yes, the pamphlet rang startlingly true, but the once crown prince of the Fire Nation had more pressing things to attend to.</span>
</p>
<hr/><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Months later, with a bit of knowledge from Aang rattling about in his skull, Zuko allowed himself to imagine surviving the war and what role he would take. Of course he’d let Uncle be Fire Lord. He didn’t dare think of what would happen if the old general didn’t accept that position-but his thoughts always found ways to betray him. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">It was in meditation that he first felt animosity towards the idea of being Fire Lord. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The moments of early dawn made golden and luminous the swathes of fog that hung between the Western Air Temple’s impossible towers. Breeze from the cool water running at the canyon’s valley would blow the low clouds across camp in swirling, disorienting bouts of damp obscurity. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Zuko always loved morning, loved this time to rise and watch the fog melt into corners and alcoves as the sun ate away at residual coolness. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The night before he and Aang had returned victorious from their visit to the Sun warriors’ ruins. Sat still in the vast wonder of airbender creation, Zuko gave himself time to think. Becoming the Avatar’s firebending teacher was a big check off his goals list, but the future remained wildly uncertain. Would he live to see a world with his father defeated and his nation divorced from colonialism? He hoped his Uncle saw that world at least. Who else would guide the Fire Nation to salvation? Zuko doubted he could.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">And that’s where the fugitive prince began to dread a position he once took for granted, on a ledge overlooking the morning’s swirling mists. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Part of him felt guilty. This was his destiny, his lot in life! What coward fears his future? But another part of him knew better then trust destiny-fickle as it was. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The absence of Uncle Iroh was a hole cut broadly through the fabric of Zuko’s soul. He wondered if the old general would be proud or disappointed by the thoughts brewing in his mind.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Thinkin’ hard over there?”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">A voice from behind startled him from the vast uncertainly manifested by the idea of being a ruling figure. It was Toph, risen uncharacteristically early.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“No. Just meditating.” Spoken as evenly as he could manage.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Pretty stiff for meditating, aren’t ya?” Unbidden she approached while speaking and prodded him hard with a finger. He grunted.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Am I ever not stiff?”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Toph shrugged and threw herself down beside him.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Wanna talk about it?”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Why?” </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Another shrug</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“I dunno. Call it bonding or something.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Zuko didn’t respond. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Don’t you wanna give us a chance to get to know you?”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Gods, the conversation was going in </span>
  <em>
    <span class="s2">this</span>
  </em>
  <span class="s1"> direction? Zuko was already unpacking one crisis this morning.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“I think you guys will know who I am better through my actions, not by sharing my </span>
  <em>
    <span class="s2">feelings</span>
  </em>
  <span class="s1">.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The little earth bender threw her head back in a great big “Ha!”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“I wasn’t asking to get all touchy feely, dude. Just asked what’s up. So?”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“So, what?”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“So spill.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The odd family the Avatar built around himself often baffled Zuko profoundly.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Ok imagine I’m like... your Uncle. I’m chill and smart and I care about you.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">He bristled and managed “You care about me?” with a tone akin to aghast.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Sure I do, stupid.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Oh.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Another laugh</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“So?”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Uh.” He cleared his throat and settled on not looking at Toph. “Just thinking about the future.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Oh boy, you sure like to start your brooding early!”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Hey! You asked!”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Gods this girl liked pushing buttons. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“I’m just messing with ya, calm down!”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“You should know well enough that this is me being calm.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She laughed at this. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Hey that was a joke! Don’t distract me with a joke! Now back to your feelings.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Zuko toyed with the idea of getting up a leaving right there. Thought about what that would do with his standing in the group. Inwardly he cringed. Honestly he wanted these people to like him-Gods he wanted to know what it felt like to have </span>
  <em>
    <span class="s2">friends</span>
  </em>
  <span class="s1">. Plus Toph was the only one who trusted him from the start. With a frustrated huff, the prince took the plunge and spoke.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“I’m worried about what happens if my Uncle doesn’t want to be Fire Lord after all of this.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">From the corner of his eye, she tilted her head. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Would you do it?” She asks after a beat.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Head in hands he admits “I don’t know...”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Is there anyone else who could do it?”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“No one fit.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“So your sister.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Yeah. My sister.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">A short inhale and Toph was puffing a stray hair out of her face in some huff of frustration. After a moment of thought she stood abruptly and looked down at the approximate location of Zuko’s face.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Here’s what I’ll tell ya. Don’t worry about a thing until it happens. Uncle’ll be a great Fire Lord and if he doesn’t want to... well I’m sure you’ll figure something out! No need to fear a platypus-bear before it’s hatched!”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">It wasn’t exactly what Zuko wanted to hear, but it was nice to know someone didn’t completely mistrust his judgment. Hell, it was probably the most faith anyone had put in him for months.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Now if you’re done brooding, I’m gonna go see if they’ve started breakfast.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">With small astonishment, Zuko noticed how much time had passed, the fog had retreated almost completely and the morning sun was casting shorter shadows from its position hung far above the lip of the opposing cliff face. How easy she had made it seem to simply wait. Zuko wished it was in his nature to be that way and not some tireless mechanism fed only by his next task, his next mission-destined to cease movement when that fuel ran out.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“You coming or what?” Came the impatient call.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Maybe he could try packing those thoughts away-even just for a few days.</span>
</p>
<hr/><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Those few days lasted not even a whole twelve hours, but was a new record, so maybe Zuko had something to work with.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Unfortunately, the anxieties came back with vengeance, dancing from his waking hours and into his dreams. Asleep, he was Ozai’s type of Fire Lord-or perhaps even worse, burning fields when peasants refused exorbitant taxes and punishing war prisoners with ghastly, brutal violence. By his hand workers and farmers starved, scholars were executed, scrolls burned, outcries were silenced. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">He woke to the taste of bile and the growing conviction that he could possibly be a </span>
  <span class="s2">worse</span>
  <span class="s1"> Fire Lord than his father. Gods he wished Toph’s MO would work for him. Over a week since their little talk and he was only </span>
  <em>
    <span class="s2">more</span>
  </em>
  <span class="s1"> worried about the prospects of ruling a whole nation to ruin. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Checking the moon’s position in the night sky, Zuko noted with a quiet groan that his nightmares had only allowed him a few hours of sleep. There was something else,however, aside from haunting dreams, that begged him to stay awake. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Oh. Yeah. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Sokka’s questions about The Boiling Rock.Zuko pinched the bridge of his nose with no small amount of frustration. The fire bender liked Sokka-actually he liked the other boy a lot. He was funny and clever and (usually) easy-going and Zuko had never been blessed with the opportunity to be friends with another boy his age before. Sokka still exercised a reasonable amount of caution around a person who he had known as an enemy much longer than an ally, but he had warmed up some amount to Zuko. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Perhaps what Zuko liked most about Sokka was the feeling the Tribesman brought to evenings around the fire or mornings helping with breakfast or nights beside the dying embers, reassuring the Duke asleep. The easy camaraderie he presided over, his confident smile, the certainty with which he brought laughter to their group spoke of his skill as a leader. It seemed almost second nature, the comfort the other boy provided his friends. The Fire Bender knew this wasn’t something he could learn, it was something someone was born with.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Casting aside envy, Zuko </span>
  <em>
    <span class="s2">respected</span>
  </em>
  <span class="s1"> Sokka.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Unfortunately that respect didn’t mean Zuko didn’t put it past Sokka to attempt a prison-break with the most dismal likelihood of success since the disgraced Prince of the Fire Nation was sent to find an Avatar vanished for over a century. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Gods he had some work to do. While the Water Tribe boy had plenty of easy charisma (of which Zuko had nearly none), the fire bender had a lifetime of failures and their consequences that he could impart as wisdom upon his new friend. Better not to see someone Zuko decided he liked very much repeat all of his mistakes. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">So he was going to sleep on Appa for the rest of the night in case Sokka decided tonight was a good night for a bison ride and a foolhardy dip in a boiling lake. Bundling his bag beneath his head, Zuko attempted to at least give sleep a chance, even while tumultuous thoughts spiraled in his head. He wondered just how much someone like him could help Sokka. </span>
</p>
<hr/><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Merciless was the length of time spent in supremely uncomfortable conversation with the Water Tribesman aboard the war balloon. Half coherent thoughts were tossed into the wind and dashed across faces under the roar of high altitude winds. They talked about girlfriends, about uncles, about war balloons. Zuko hesitated to talk about fathers. They fell in and out of uncomfortable silences. Sleeping seemed a solid excuse not to continue the stilted dialogue.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">A quick doze put him in Sokka’s shoes, springing his own father, Ozai, from brutal (improbable) imprisonment. A spot of light turbulence jostled the fire bender awake and lucid to ponder the moment in his trajectory from loyalist to traitor that Zuko decided he </span>
  <em>
    <span class="s2">wouldn’t</span>
  </em>
  <span class="s1"> rescue the Fire Lord. Gods he hoped Sokka’s father was deserving of the risk his son was about to take. Either way, Zuko’s yardstick for what made a good dad was horribly skewed. Maybe it </span>
  <em>
    <span class="s2">would</span>
  </em>
  <span class="s1"> be a good idea to have this conversation. Inwardly, Zuko flinched. This would be like digging out a large splinter or diving into ice-cold waters.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Uh... so... what’s you’re father like?”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“My dad? Oh man... where do I start?”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">His face was spread in smile-a good sign. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Well he’s funny, like me...”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Just like Ozai wasn’t (or Zuko).</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“And he’s brave, I guess also like me?”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Was Ozai brave? Zuko didn’t know.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“And he’s a great strategist. Uh do I have to keep saying like me?”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Sokka’s question pulled Zuko from visions of war rooms where strategy was letting a whole battalion of your own get cut down for “distraction”. He snorted.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Yeah I’m gonna assume you guys are exactly alike unless you say otherwise.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Sokka shrugged.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“We’re not totally alike. My dad is way better at speaking to crowds for one thing.” And then, glumly: “He’s better at making really difficult decisions too.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Desperately, Zuko was trying not to draw parallels between himself and the Fire Lord as Sokka was doing with his own father. This effort came in the form of trying to comfort the tribesman with something close to his whole being. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Making difficult decisions isn’t something you’re born good at, Sokka. I would know.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Across from him, the young warrior stood and hung his hands over the steel frame of the balloon’s basket. His eyes cast far out into the wide sea they sailed over.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“My dad’s a much better leader than me too. I can’t count how many times I’ve let the group down...”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Zuko wouldn’t call this a blessing, exactly, but this doubtful Sokka, this friend so unseeing of his own merit called to him louder than even the shadow of his Father, who pressed upon him like the weight of one thousand suns. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“That’s not true.” </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Wha-“</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“I’ve seen you. You’re a great leader, Sokka.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Sokka was clearly at a loss for words. He had turned his gaze from the ocean to Zuko, startled eyes slowly fading to something quizzical.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Thanks man.” He said after a long pause.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“It’s funny. I might like having you around a lot more than I woulda thought.” The tribesman scratched his chin. “Keep this up and you might become my favorite.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The unexpected words were punctuated with a head tossed back in laughter. It gave Zuko a moment to will away the hot blush that had intruded on his face. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Gods. He hoped Sokka’s father was just like his son.</span>
</p>
<hr/><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Hakoda was. Something about that made Zuko terribly nervous. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">They had wrangled control of the snatched airship thanks to the two Tribesmen. Zuko only could offer scant help-his expertise was of a someone who had only seen a control board one afternoon following Azula around on a tour of the Fire Nation’s newest fleet. Sokka has taken the wheel like the ship was his own creation. With startling intuition, he navigated his father through highly populated switchboards and ultra-sensitive levers. Hakoda followed with few questions and seemed to act without any guidance after a while. Zuko could only watch, feeling useless, while the two worked seamlessly on reaching cruising altitude. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The Kyoshi warrior stood beside him, her eyes flitting between the tribesmen and Zuko, alternating between awe filled and distrustful depending on where her sights landed. Chit Sang, their unexpected addition, had scrounged up some kind of pipe from the depths of the airship and was puffing sweet smoke out an open window with an expression of satisfaction one can only muster after escaping from the Fire Nations foremost secure prison. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“What were you in for?” Suki had asked him when they first met behind that stairway in the Boiling Rock.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The large man had stared Zuko down real hard. His grey eyes were like two lead weights, boring into the prince’s soul .</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“I took the fall for my boss.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Your boss?”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Yeah. He ran a press out in Shu Jing. I got caught posting anti-imperialist literature in the capital. Pretended it was all me to keep em from finding the old man in the countryside.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Sokka had jumped at this. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Shu Jing? My sword master lived out there!”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Chit Sang looked at the false guard with a new appreciation.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Ol’ Piandao... good man... most of our funding came from his estate.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Now it made sense why Uncle Iroh and Master Piandao got along so well-aside from all the tea and riddles both of them were so fond of. There was also the bit of information that he and Sokka had studied the blade with the same master. What to do with that was still uncertain.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Zuko was glad Chit Sang seemed trustworthy. The Boiling Rock could’ve provided them with accomplices of far more questionable morals. Suki too, was a lucky draw. Zuko wasn’t used to such fortune. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">As the flurry at the helm died down, Hakoda turned to look at his fellow escapees. Decisively, cool blue eyes landed on Zuko. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Sokka’s father was startlingly handsome. Worn and rugged in all the ways Ozai was not, with a benevolent brow and slight lines about his mouth and eyes that betrayed frequent smiles. Zuko wondered just how much Sokka would grow into looking like his dad, he certainly had the older man’s strong jaw and easy grin. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Prince Zuko, you have my gratitude.” Coming from Sokka’s mouth, those words would sound stiff and awkward, but Hakoda was a picture of grace. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Zuko, dredging up years of princely etiquette, bowed.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“It was my honor to be of help, Hakoda of the Southern Water Tribe.” And then, fumbled “but uh-please just call me Zuko.” </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Righting himself, the fire bender saw Sokka elbow his father.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“See? Told you he wasn’t bad.” Said with a big grin in Zuko’s direction. There was no hiding the redness in his face this time which Suki must’ve noticed if the quirk of her lips said anything. </span>
</p>
<hr/><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Ruefully, Zuko accepted that he wasn’t becoming “Sokka’s favorite” anytime soon. With Suki around, the traitor prince’s company was no longer a novelty meant to carefully watch. Some part of him was glad the tribesman trusted him now with easy smiles and slaps on the back, but a larger portion wanted to be in Sokka’s presence almost constantly. The development was worrying and Zuko passionately sought to cast it from his being. This meant throwing himself into lessons for Aang and keeping himself busy with chores. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Two days after returning from their wild escape, Zuko approached Hakoda with concepts of leadership and governance storming about in his thoughts.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Ah, Zuko. What’s on your mind?”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">He wasn’t sure what he did to win the older man’s trust, much less the kindness that laced Hakoda’s warm timbre. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“I uh... wanted to ask how you became chief of your tribe.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Did Sokka tell you that I’m the chief?”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Uh... yes?”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The man laughed, skin crinkling about the eyes. Zuko had never seen such an expression on his own father, this unguarded smile, bereft of any malice.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“There hasn’t been a chief of the Southern Water Tribe in years-not since Chief Tukkuttok was killed in the last raid.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Zuko was beside himself. How did a society run without leadership? Such a concept was inconceivable! There was no order without governance! No peace without hierarchy!</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The entirety of his bafflement condensed into a single word:</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“How?”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The way Hakoda proceeded was quite unlike Sokka-in fact if he spoke like anyone it was Zuko’s Uncle.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“You’ve seen much of the world, haven’t you Zuko?”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">A nod.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“There isn’t a right way to do anything-I trust you’ve learned that in your travels- and there certainly isn’t a right way to govern people. My tribe is very communal and small enough that decisions can be made by everyone. It is a tribesperson’s duty to help make these choices. Our Chief was the mouthpiece of the people, nothing more and nothing less. When he was killed, the tribe decided dealing with the war was more important than finding his replacement.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Something threatened to kindle in Zuko’s heart. He imagined a Fire Nation that made collective decisions, where a rice farmer’s voice weighed just as much as the Fire Lord’s. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“So everyone had the same amount of power?” Hushed, and awe-stricken he must’ve sounded, because Hakoda clapped him on the back with a bark of laughter.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Call it crazy, but thats normal for us Southerners. I can’t tell you how confused I was when I started doing business with Earth Kingdom aristocrats. All convoluted rituals and no direct action! Exhausting!”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“You’re not alone there. Earth Kingdom politics are nuts.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Another back thump and chuckle.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“I had my doubts when I first met you, Prince Zuko, but I think I can now confidently say I’d vote you into Chiefdom.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The world seemed to still. Only Uncle had expressed such confidence in Zuko before, between myriad proverbs and searching looks. Here was Hakoda, known to the fire bender for under a week, proclaiming a trust in him that Ozai would never give. It shook him so deeply he could almost ignore one key misstep. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“What about Sokka?”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The good natured grin on the tribesman’s face broke into a look so close to fatherly, Zuko felt something choked in his throat. Now he really did feel like his unclewas looking upon him, eyes bright with profound kindness. It seemed like Hakoda was inches away from gathering the banished prince up in his arms. Still gazing down at the young man, he wryly answered.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Oh I’d vote for Sokka before anyone else-including myself.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">And Zuko couldn’t bring himself to feel slighted as a second or even third pick.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Yeah. I’d vote for him too.”</span>
</p>
<hr/><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Zuko’s most traitorous dreams were also his most comical as they featured Sokka (already funny) as Fire Lord (an absurd prospect) doing a really good job being Fire Lord (perhaps a slightly less absurd prospect). The Water Tribe teen swam in crimson regalia, the flame crown flopped clownishly in his wolf tail. This version of the Fire Lord would proclaim things with an over-exaggerated self awareness that had the prince laughing in his sleep. Zuko found himself filling many roles in these dreams-body guard, confidante, manservant-each seemingly more desirable to him than the leadership he was supposed to take. Embarrassingly indulgent and attractive were fantasies of blocking the poisoned darts of assassins or gently untangling his lord’s hair, umber strands silken in an alabaster basin.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Gods. This trust Zuko had with Hakoda could be shattered if he knew the prince’s dreams.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Toph has figured him out way too early.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Hey don’t worry. I thought I was into Snoozles too, until I realized he’s an idiot.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Zuko was far past realizing the water tribe boy was an idiot. No, he had started to find that idiocy </span>
  <em>
    <span class="s2">endearing</span>
  </em>
  <span class="s1">. So the little earth bender had taken to waggling her fingers and whistling at Zuko whenever she found him with Sokka. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The latter, blissfully in the dark, had taken to commenting on Toph’s antagonism.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“What’s wrong with two bros fighting with swords?</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“She’s got a problem with dudes talking battle strategy?”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Hey! There’s no law against enjoying a snack with my buddy!”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Gods, the color in Zuko’s face had never been this symmetrical. He didn’t know whether to curse at Toph’s cackling back or laugh with her. What a mess.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Curiously, for all his attempted avoidance, Zuko found himself increasingly in Sokka’s presence.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">He’s chosen to do the dishes that night, steam curling from his corner of the fountain. The lye soap made his hands dry and cracked, but it was work and something to focus his whole being on until completion. Katara has given him a look, confusion with trace amounts of malice, when he offered to do the chore for a fifth time this week. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">At the palace, Zuko’s hands would be free of work. Only Princely duties occupied him: fire bending, calligraphy, history, pai sho. Wandering those tapestry lined halls had given him too much time to think. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Gods, Zuko was grateful for the work. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Man do you </span>
  <em>
    <span class="s2">like</span>
  </em>
  <span class="s1"> doing the dishes?” </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Startled, he dropped the cast iron pot that was currently getting burnt rice scraped from its bottom. The heavy thing connected with the fountain’s surface, resulting in a huge splash, wave concentrated directly upward and into the fire bender’s face. Over by the campfire Katara yelled</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Hey! Don’t break anything!”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Sokka was beside him laughing and slapped him on the back.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Sorry I scared you, buddy.” The warrior’s hand remained.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“It’s no problem...” Zuko managed around the suds that had made it into his mouth. The red of his face was hid behind a rag the other boy placed into his hands. It took an extra moment to compose himself.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“So you enjoy scrubbing crusty pots or something?”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">A laugh escaped Zuko’s lips and muffled itself in the towel he was firmly hiding in. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“A little bit...” he answered honestly, and pulled the cloth back to speak.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“It reminds me of when I served tea with Uncle in Ba Sing Se.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Oh yeah! I forgot you did that.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Yeah. I hated it at the time so I’m surprised by just how much I miss it.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Man, I used to think you were crazy cuz you chased us to all ends of the earth shooting fire everywhere, but now I know the true insanity is that you actually like doing dishes.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Hey, I’m pretty sure your sister enjoys doing them?”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">As if to prove her omnipresent surveillance, Katara retorted hotly from about 20 paces away.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“I do not enjoy doing anything Zuko does!”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Wow I didn’t realize you were part of our conversation, Katara!”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Sokka countered slyly. Zuko wasn’t sure what would happen if he looked at Katara, but he knew better than to test whatever terrible outcome lay waiting in the water bender’s eyes. Instead he let the siblings duke it out, resulting in Katara stormily leaving the terrace, complaints about her brother’s choice of friends copious on her lips. Sokka watched her retreating back with an exaggerated shrug. And then, to Zuko’s shock, he fished the dropped pot from the bottom of the fountain (almost submerging his head in the process) and resumed scraping the char from its bottom.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Wow the water’s nice! Did you do that?”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Uh... yeah.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Been trying to figure out if fire bending was good for anything ‘sides fireballs! If I had know you were hiding cozy bath water all this time, I woulda converted you sooner!”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Sokka was taking his sweet time with the cast iron, luxuriating up past his elbows in the warm fountain. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“I guess bath water’s all I’m good for?” He half-humored the water tribe boy.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Head turned, just inches above the water, Sokka shot him a wide grin and said “Yep!”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“You know I could just... push you in?” The question accompanied by a hand hovering directly above his companion’s wolf tail.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Good thing it’s such a nice temperature.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Yeah. Good thing.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">And swiftly Zuko acted on his threat. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">In the past, before he knew keenly how it felt to be the butt of some cosmic joke, the prince would have acted differently in this light vengeance. He could have held his victim’s head firmly under or taunted mercilessly or any myriad of cruel things that seemed appropriate to his lineage. Instead he quickly released the back of his friend’s head, laughing brightly.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Oh. So that’s how it is?” Said the sopping face of the tribesman. And Zuko was met with a veritable wave of water, curtesy of the pot, paused from scrubbing and still full of charred rice. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Still laughing and wiping soap and oil from his eyes, Zuko didn’t hear Sokka’s complete silence. The other boy was staring, dumbfounded, at the prince. Had Zuko been privy to the tribeman’s thoughts, he would have realized the innate jolt of fear one feels when dousing your once enemy in tepid dishwater. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Ha! Joke’s on you, water tribe! I was already soaking wet from earlier!” Completely unaware of the stunned face of his companion who only said “Huh.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Something in Zuko left him lighter than he had possibly been in his entire life. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Gods he never got this! This was it! What it felt like to be a normal boy, someone who had friends and messed around like a century of war wasn’t baring down on his shoulders. Dishes were forgotten, wet rag flung onto stone with a decisive slap. Easy as breathing, Zuko was stepping over the low wall and up to his knees in water.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Sokka, still looking somewhat bewildered, was reached for and dragged over the fountain’s edge. A strangled laugh escaped the boy.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“You’re gonna pay for these chunks.” Zuko demonstrated the ‘chunks’ by picking a grey cluster of burnt rice from his hair and flicking it at Sokka. It was wiped hastily from the tribesmen’s face with enthusiastic noises of disgust. Then pensively, in a manner of 180 that only Sokka could manage, the younger teen remarked:</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“You know I’ve never seen you laughing like this.” </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Well, don’t make me stop, Watertribe.” Came out more as a playful threat than quiet plea, despite being both. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Oh I’ll make you stop.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">‘Watertribe’ leaped forward and suddenly Zuko’s front half was entirely Sokka, and he was falling back into water, still engulfed in Sokka, and his rear was making contact with the mosaic floor, still with nothing but Sokka in his face.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Gods he was laughing, half drowning in miserable tasting water. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Zuko poked Sokka firmly in the chest with a wicked grin.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“I’m still laughing.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">A small wave was forced into his face.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“You’re laughing? I thought you were having some kinda facial spasm!”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Isn’t that what laughing is?”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“No, you idiot! There’s a much more scientific explanation for laughing!”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Facial spasm isn’t scientific enough?”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Nope!”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Sokka was still over Zuko and seemed to take pleasure in splashing the other boy in the face with every syllable he spoke. In retaliation, the splashing hand was grabbed and pulled, the forward motion knocking the tribesman face first into the water beside Zuko.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Then enlighten me, oh intellectual one, on the origin of laughing.” </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Sokka flopped over, spluttering, looking like he was willing to pause battle for a debate.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“You ever think we might not know enough science to explain laughing?”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Zuko folded his arms and schooled his face into something serious.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“We might not know enough science.” He repeated dryly.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Yeah, doofus. It’s not like your understanding of things is the limit of the universe.” </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Sitting up straighter, Sokka looked like someone who had hooked an enormous fish and was catching glimpses of his prize as he pulled it in. It made Zuko wonder who the other boy shared these kinds of thoughts with before there was a fire bender in the group. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Like... how we didn’t know we could fly without air bending until someone invented the balloon! Do you ever think about stuff like that? About how much we </span>
  <em>
    <span class="s2">don’t know</span>
  </em>
  <span class="s1"><em>?</em>”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Summer’s end was punctuated by singing insects in twilight hours. The light was almost gone from the sky, leaving it a surreal, almost violet blue that shivered on the water’s surface. The fountain smelled mostly of moss and only slightly of the lye soap. It’s waters were cool and moved with soft currents as they poured from the temple depths, into the pool, and then out over the canyon edge. Zuko let that question flow through his mind like the temple’s waters-thought about how his life was a constant limbo of uncertainty.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Yeah. I do.” He said finally.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The look Sokka gave him could almost be described as grateful.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Man! Thank you! Every time I bring this up with the rest of the gang they give me so much shit.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Uh. You’re welcome?”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">And, as if he was given a cue, Sokka was passionately discussing the limits of human understanding with the traitor prince of the Fire Nation.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">As the sky darkened, the stars were allowed their light over its jet-colored facade. They hung a testament to Sokka’s philosophy: something humanity knew of, but still couldn’t fathom </span>
  <em>
    <span class="s2">comprehending</span>
  </em>
  <span class="s1">. It made Zuko think of a society where ideas and concepts were shared, rather than hoarded and hidden. How much wiser the world would be for it. Gods, he prayed Sokka would survive their battle and see the war won, because the world would be a much poorer place without him. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">He thought too, about his vacillation over a future role as Fire Lord. How he had been offered solutions to that hesitation, and yet-there could be a solution still unknown. For all it’s nebulous nature, Zuko found reassurance in that idea. That uncertainty felt laden with opportunity. Certainly, he could glean the right answer from the mist if he stumbled through it long enough.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">They stayed there deep into morning’s early hours, water warmed by a deft hand as the cool night air slipped quietly past.</span>
</p>
<hr/><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Toph ridiculed them at breakfast the next morning. Initially her insults centered around their shared mossy, damp smell, but something else connected in her brain shortly after that had her mercilessly poking at the speed of their heartbeats and the distance between them. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Katara took note of the little earth bender’s commentary and dragged Zuko aside later that day.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“What are you doing with my brother?”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Aang’s fire bending session had just finished, leaving Zuko covered in sweat and grit. He rubbed salt from his eyes before trying to respond.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Uh. I don’t know what you’re talking about?”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Don’t play dumb with me. Toph was making </span>
  <em>
    <span class="s2">insinuations</span>
  </em>
  <span class="s1"> all morning. Plus Sokka won’t give me a straight answer. So you will, if you know what’s good for you.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Gods Katara could be nightmarish when she wanted. Still, Zuko had to admit her concern was founded-it would be even if she had absolute trust in the ex-prince. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“We were just talking.” He tried to sound simultaneously firm and non-combative. Katara wasn’t having it.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Oh yeah? Then what were you </span>
  <em>
    <span class="s2">talking</span>
  </em>
  <span class="s1"> about?”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Uh... Sokka-he um. He started on this... not knowing stuff idea?”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Had Zuko known Katara for longer, he would’ve recognized her expression as the ‘tired of Sokka buddying up to the next person who doesn’t think his ideas are shit’ look. Since he wasn’t familiar with the water bender’s range of body language quite yet, the face read as ‘everything Zuko says makes me want to freeze his head into a block of ice.’ Which was probably a genuine sentiment whether or not she believed he was just </span>
  <span class="s2">talking</span>
  <span class="s1"> with Sokka.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“I promise you I’m not doing anything bad to your brother.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Oh yeah because </span>
  <em>
    <span class="s2">your word</span>
  </em>
  <span class="s1"> carries so much weight.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Wow Zuko really didn’t feel like having this conversation. Was it weak that he was praying for someone to come in and save him from talking to Katara any further on the subject? Probably. Still, every once in a while, Zuko would’ve liked someone else to take care of problems for him, rather than steeling himself to walk across them, barefoot on broken glass. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Hey! Jerk bender! Just the man I was looking for.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Katara looked like she had swallowed a spoonful of vinegar. Her mouth snapped decisively shut. Seeing his sister with the boy she clearly disliked, Sokka gave them both a spectacular eyebrow raise before speaking.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Oh hey, Katara. Mind if I borrow Zuko for a minute?”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Go ahead. Have </span>
  <em>
    <span class="s2">Zuko</span>
  </em>
  <span class="s1"> for as long as you’d like.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The amount of derision to her words could’ve filled Ba Sing Se’s great outer ring with still plenty to spare. With one last glare, she turned and stalked away.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Sokka let out a low whistle at his sister’s retreat.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Man I forget how brutal Katara can be. I guess you kinda earned it though.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">A humorless laugh: “I really did.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The tribesman didn’t hesitate to clap Zuko on the back. The hand lingered warm between his shoulder blades.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“She’ll come around eventually. Hey look! I did!”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Does that mean I need to organize another prison break but with your sister this time?”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Sokka laughed, honest and bright.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“You guys have a Boiling Rock two hidden somewhere for that mission?</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Nah.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Oh bummer. Looks like Katara’s gonna hate you forever then.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Zuko was caught between laughing with Sokka and being stricken by the hopeless state of relations between himself and the resident water bender.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“You needed me for something?”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Sokka visibly remembered.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Oh yeah! I wanted to ask if you wanted to go on </span>
  <span class="s2">an <em>actual</em></span>
  <span class="s1"> fishing trip tomorrow? You know, instead of infiltrating a fire nation prison?”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Early days of roughing it in the Earth Kingdom came to mind. With some private shame, Zuko recalled the one fish he had ever caught in his life, thrashing and minuscule, on the end of a very long makeshift spear. It had existed almost as a joke, a question that taunted </span>
  <span class="s2">‘<em>oh! so the prince thinks he can fish?</em>’. </span>
  <span class="s1">Against his better judgment, Zuko consented to was was sure to be a very embarrassing display of skills.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Uh. Sure?”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Alright! It’s gonna be a good time! Just two dudes, a couple of sticks, and a </span>
  <em>
    <span class="s2">whole</span>
  </em>
  <span class="s1"> bunch of fish.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">With a trace of dread, the ex-prince hypothesized who would disproportionately catch the “whole bunch of fish”. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Sokka shook him from imagined fishing scenarios with a slap on the back.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Let’s go see if my sister stormed off to some lunch.”</span>
</p>
<hr/><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Toph got him by the sleeve at the end of dinner and yanked him away from the fire. It seemed tonight would the first time in 5 days that he wasn’t doing the evening’s dishes. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Perhaps the anticipation he felt as the small earth bender dragged him off was akin to the feelings Katara inspired. Especially when she sat him down on a flat stone and remained silently pacing before him.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Uh... is everything ok?”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She stomped around a bit more and threw herself backwards beside Zuko with a grunt.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“You’ve had a girlfriend before, right?”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“What?”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“A girlfriend, Zuko. You had one.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The bottom of Zuko’s expectations had fallen out. He didn’t really get what was going on. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Uh. I guess?”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“You guess you had a girlfriend??”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Now he wasn’t sure if this was an insult or not. Toph was lounging with her head propped up on one hand. Her unseeing eyes glared incredulously. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Do you mean Mai?”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Yes! The gloomy girl. Were you guys dating or what?”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Yeah... for a bit, but I had to break it off when I turned traitor.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Ok. What’s that like?”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“What? Betraying the throne?”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“No! Having a girlfriend, you dumbass.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Zuko really did take offense to that. There really weren’t any clues as to where this talk was going. Now he was confused </span>
  <em>
    <span class="s2">and</span>
  </em>
  <span class="s1"> insulted. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Don’t make a habit of calling me that.” He retorted hotly before voicing how lost he was “and why are you even asking me this stuff?”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Looking at the little earth bender’s glowering face, Zuko saw something else. Toph was </span>
  <span class="s2"><em>nervous</em>. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Look, I don’t know how I’m even supposed to talk about this-especially with someone as thick as you,” an appropriate grunt of annoyance issued from Zuko “but I think I might like the idea of having a girlfriend and you’re someone who’s had one. Also you clearly have a thing for another dude.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">It’s evidence of his personal growth that Zuko’s only response to this was a noise of despair while solidly dropping his head into his hands, instead of yelling frenzied denials. With his vision resting on the weathered flagstones between his feet, Zuko wondered if this might actually be Hell. To be a fugitive, squatting in the ruins of a murdered civilization, getting interrogated by a twelve year old on what it’s like to have a girlfriend. Thinking about it now, Zuko remembered that Aang wanted a similar conversation out of him a few days ago. These children really needed a guiding force that wasn’t a 16 year old traitor prince with an abusive father.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Hey, are you gonna talk, or what?”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Theres a fragility to her voice, at odds the girl’s usual bravado. If only Zuko could’ve had this exact conversation with someone wiser than him when </span>
  <em>
    <span class="s2">he</span>
  </em>
  <span class="s1"> was 12. It remained debatable if the fire bender was</span>
  <em>
    <span class="s2"> wise</span>
  </em>
  <span class="s1"> though. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Oh uh... I don’t know if I’m the best person to talk with about this.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Who else am I gonna talk to? Aang?” Toph gave that concept a good laugh.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“And don’t say Sokka. I refuse to spill my secrets with anyone who dishes so freely to Sugar Queen.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Still slumped over and plenty perplexed Zuko asked.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“So let me get this straight. You think </span>
  <em>
    <span class="s2">I’m</span>
  </em>
  <span class="s1"> the best candidate for girlfriend advice?”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Well it’s not like I was given a good selection to choose from!”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Yeah, and about that. Who are you even trying to make your girlfriend? <em>Katara</em>?”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Toph was crimson, absolutely <em>aghast</em>. Little bits of rocks crumbled beneath her fists.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“<em>Are you nuts</em>? Seriously? Katara? That would be like dating my mom!”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Zuko couldn’t stop himself, he started laughing almost uncontrollably. Reluctantly, Toph joined in and together their mirth became almost hysterical. The little earth bender slapped his back hard enough for his forehead to connect with his knees. Zuko remained there, wild laughter muffled into his pants.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">After a while their manic mirth subsided and he sat up.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Ok so I’m guessing it’s Suki.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">With a dramatic groan, Toph threw herself face-down into the rock she was lounging on. The hard surface gave a little upon impact and when she eventually lifted her head an anguished-looking self portrait was left impressed into the stone. Zuko rested a tentative hand on her shoulder.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“That’s rough, buddy.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The earth bender’s laugh was humorless.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“We have some problems in common don’t we?”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Zuko didn’t respond.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“You know I can’t tell if they’re dating anymore. You might have a chance.” </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Turning to look at Toph incredulously, Zuko sighed.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Don’t get my-or your-hopes up, Toph.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Slowly rolling back into her position face-down in rock, Toph’s voice was muffled when she eventually spoke.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“We’re both so screwed.”</span>
</p>
<hr/><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Azula saved Zuko the trouble of embarrassing himself in front of Sokka when she tried to blow the western air temple off the cliff the next morning. He couldn’t tell which he felt more: relief he wouldn’t look a fool to the tribesman, or disappointment that they couldn’t go on a trip, just the two boys, together, out in the woods. The thoughts circled each other, neither winning in their eternal dance. What was more important? Zuko’s battered pride or his impossible desire? Honestly, he found both of these concepts pitiful and perhaps it was for the best that his sister tried to murder him yet again. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Sokka lifting his glass when they sat around the evening’s campfire to toast Zuko was pretty unnecessary. It left him feeling incredibly red and sweaty, like a sauna he didn’t consent to. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Scornful words from Katara didn’t help either. Gods he was going to have to resolve the problem he crafted months ago under Ba Sing Se. Really, at what point in his life would he be finished making up for all the ill-advised choices he made before turning traitor? Thinking about that made Zuko’s head ache, not because his past bad decisions were endless-no it was because after he was finally finished cleaning up his own mess, he had a whole century of Fire Nation havoc to tidy up. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Still, staring down that abyss wasn’t exactly helpful to anyone, so Zuko promised himself to take the pile of rubble apart one piece at a time. Starting with his supreme screw-up with Katara.</span>
</p>
<hr/><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">His talk with Katara turned out predictably bad. Almost by instinct Zuko found himself standing before Sokka’s tent. When had the other boy’s company become so essential to the prince’s peace of mind? That was another abyss to avoid staring into. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Suki, who was being surprisingly friendly to Zuko (considering he set her village on fire), seemed to have some business with Sokka too, and exhibited even more of that unexpected kindness by letting Zuko go first. There was something sly, even humorous, to her smile that he couldn’t hope to understand with his very limited social skills. Lifting the tent flap, the fire bender prepared himself for a very difficult discussion about loss and mothers.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Oh, hello~- Zuko!”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">All words met an encompassing death on his lips. This was bad. Sokka had a rose in his mouth. Candles were everywhere. This was not meant for Zuko. Every instinct in him said to make haste out the tent flap and jump, fully clothed, directly into the ocean. Maybe the waves could dash him to oblivion against the rocks. Maybe he could get Katara to help.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">But Zuko had a problem to solve right now and he wasn’t a coward (usually) so he sat boldly before the other boy. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The rose, stem snapped with the earlier utterance of “Zuko!”, remained in Sokka’s mouth. It hung bent between pink lips. This was a big problem, as Zuko’s eyes refused to focus on anything else. With all his might, he willed himself to look into Sokka’s eyes instead, which also might have been a mistake.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The tribesman always has a very expressive face. For a person supposedly ruled by logic and rationality, Sokka was quite fond of dramatics. So it was very easy (even for Zuko,who had the social prowess of a Komodo-rhino) to witness when Sokka decided between playing this off as nothing and playing this off as </span>
  <em>
    <span class="s2">something</span>
  </em>
  <span class="s1">. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“So. What can I help you with </span>
  <em>
    <span class="s2">Zuko</span>
  </em>
  <span class="s1"><em>?”</em> </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Uh.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Gods what was he supposed to do in this situation? Most of his brain was a blaring alarm yelling ‘run!’. However, one quiet voice that sounded suspiciously like his uncle reasoned something else to his frazzled mind. The words washed over him, as he looked, dazed, upon Sokka’s undone hair and hooded eyes. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <em>
    <span class="s2">Pleasure usually does a man more good than harm, Prince Zuko. Allow yourself the sweet fruits of life. Accept happiness and kindness.</span>
  </em>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Sokka visibly didn’t consider the earlier ‘uh.’ as an answer.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Ok you’re gonna have to articulate more than that, dude.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Being called </span>
  <em>
    <span class="s2">Dude</span>
  </em>
  <span class="s1"> and watching a mangled flower flop around between another person’s teeth shouldn’t have been attractive at all.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“I meant uh... I meant that- Yes! You can uh... help me with something!”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Oh yeah? What’s </span>
  <em>
    <span class="s2">something</span>
  </em>
  <span class="s1">?” </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Oh gods when had Sokka gotten closer? Zuko’s brain was absolutely fried. What had he been trying to do when he first entered the tent? For his own life, his own honor, he couldn’t remember. Everything in his mind seemed erased and replaced with the image of Sokka’s lips and that stupid rose. There he was, staring down the abyss and Sokka’s mouth was staring right back, munching on a flower.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Words struggled at the back of his throat. What even was a word? How did one speak? Zuko was putting his entire being into uttering a single phrase. At this point he didn’t even know what was going to come out of his mouth, he just knew he had to say </span>
  <em>
    <span class="s2">something</span>
  </em>
  <span class="s1">. Nothing could prepare him for his own voice, strangled and breathless, managing only two words.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Sokka... lips.”</span>
</p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">And before Zuko could will Hell itself to open beneath him and swallow him up, Sokka spat out </span><span class="s2">that</span> <span class="s2">stupid rose</span><span class="s1">and was on top of him, laughing the whole time.</span></p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“I hope that’s an invitation for a kiss, dumbass.” The tribesman said as he invited himself to Zuko’s lips. </span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Lol!!!!! Look for part 2 whenever my dumbass decides to finish this!!!</p><p>Also: I know Hakoda is canonically chief of the southern water tribe but I wanted to make a political statement here so in this story he isn’t!</p><p>Thanks for reading!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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